Cabinet hinge

ABSTRACT

A cabinet hinge for quickly and removably attaching a door to a cabinet without defacing or marring the cabinet. The hinge includes a first hinge leaf attached to the door and a second hinge leaf attached to the wall of the cabinet. The second leaf includes a generally planar rearward portion which lies against the side of the cabinet wall and provides a pair of attaching tabs which are inserted into perforated shelf-support strips carried by the wall. The forward portion of the second hinge leaf is generally L-shaped and includes an intermediate portion which lies against the front of the cabinet wall. The front of the wall is provided with a vertically extending slot, and a rearwardly extending projection on the forward portion is received by the slot.

United States Patent inventors Hammond A. Berry Spring Lake; Michael I. Duly, Muskegon, both of, Mich. [211 Appl. No. 785,985 [22] Filed Dec. 23,1968 (45] Patented July 6, 1971 [73] Assignee E. H. Sheldon & Company Muskegon, Mich.

[54] CABINET HINGE 6 Claims, 17 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S.Cl. 312/324, 16/135 [51] Int. Cl A47b 96/00 [50] Field ofSearch 16/158, 159, l35;312/324 [56] References Cited 7 UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,135,547 4/1915 Pleins 16/135 3,439,377 4/l969 Bucholz 3,439,378 4/1969 Ennis ABSTRACT: A cabinet hinge for quickly and removably attaching a door to a cabinet without defacing or marring the cabinet. The hinge includes a first hinge leaf attached-to the door and a second hinge leaf attached to the wall of the cabinet. The second leaf includes a generally planar rearward portion which lies against the side of the cabinet wall and provides a pair of attaching tabs which are inserted into perforated shelf-support strips carried by the wall. The forward portion of the second hinge leaf is generally L-shaped and includes an intermediate portion which lies against the front of the cabinet wall. The front of the wall is provided with a vertically extending slot, and a rearwardly extending projection on the forward portion is received by the slot.

sum 1 OF 2 FIG. 10

INV Hammond A. Berry Michael J. Duly i BY au/rzmv, JJZbn/ 7 1K and 2 ATTORNEYS ENT( )RS CABINET HINGE BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY A particular cabinet may at times be used with doors to close the front thereof, and at other times it may be desirable to remove the doors toexpose the shelves of the cabinets. Accordingly, it is desirable that the doors be readily attachable to and removable from the cabinet. When the doors are used, they should be securely supported by the cabinet, and when the doors are removed, no unsightly screw holes or other defects in the cabinet walls should be visible.

The inventive hinge quickly and easily attaches a door to a cabinet wall without requiring unsightly screw holes or the like which would be visible when the door is removed. One of the hinge leaves is secured to the door, and the other leaf is firmly attached to the cabinet wall by tabs which are received in the openings of a perforated shelf-support strip attached to the wall and by a projection which is received by a decorative slot provided in the front of the wall. The second leaf is held squarely against the cabinet wall, providing a secure attachment of the door to the cabinet. The hinge may be readily disengaged from the'cabinet wall merely by prying the tabs from the perforated strip.

1 DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a typical cabinet with several adjustable shelves;

FIG. 2 shows the cabinet of FIG. 1 with doors attached;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of one of the cabinet hinges shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG; 4 with the doors swung open 180;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIGS. 4 and 5 with the door swung open 180;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view of the center panel of a double cabinet with the left door closed and the right door swung open I80;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary perspective view looking into the cabinet with the doors open 180";

FIG. 9 is a vertical sectional view of the rearward portion of the hinge;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the hinge;

FIG. 11 is a top view showing the hinge attached to the cabinet with the cabinet wall partially broken away;

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary perspective view similar to FIG. 8 of a modified hinge;

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the hinge of FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a top view of the hinge of FIG. 12; FIG. 15 is a top view similar to FIG. 14 of another modification of the hinge;

FIG. 16 is a fragmentary perspective view of the hinge illustrated in FIG. 15; and

FIG. 17 is a perspective view of the hinge illustrated in FIG. 16.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, the numeral 20 designates generally a cabinet having right and left sidewalls 21 and 22, respectively, and several shelves 23. The shelves 23 are supported by conventional perforated shelf-support strips 24 which are attached to the sidewalls 21 and 22, and the height of the shelves 23 may be adjusted in the usual manner by changing the position of the shelves with respect to the vertically extending strips 24. Referring to FIG. 2, the cabinet 20 may be provided with right and left hand doors 25 and 26, respectively, and each door is attached to the cabinet by a pair of hinges 27.

As can be seen best in FIGS. 3 and 8, the cabinet wall 22 includes an outer side 28, an inner side 29, and a front side 30. The front side is provided with a vertically extending slot or groove 31 which is generally Ushaped to provide a pair of forwardly extending, spaced-apart ribs 32.

The inner side 29 of the cabinet wall 22 may be recessed as at 33 (FIGS. 4 and 8) so that the generally channel-shaped shelf-support strip 24 may be attached to the cabinet wall to lie flush with the inner side 29. As is well known, the conventional shelf support strips 24 are provided with spaced-apart perforations or slots 34 which receive suitable brackets to support the shelves.

The hinge 27 includes a pair of hinge leaves 35 and 36 and a barrel 37. Referring to FIG. 10, hinge leaf 36 includes two spaced barrel segments 37a which are interleaved with spaced barrel segments 37b on the leaf 35, and the leaves are rotatably joined by a conventional hinge bolt which passes through the barrel segments. The top and! bottom of the barrel 37 are rounded as at 33 to reduce the chance of the hinge snagging on clothes or the like.

The hinge leaf 36 includes a generally rectangular and planar rearward portion 39 and a forward portion 40 which is generally L-shaped in horizontal cross section. The rearward portion 39 extends along the inner side 29 of the cabinet wall and is held thereagainst by attaching tabs 41 which project generally perpendicularly from the rearward portion and are received by the perforations 34 of the shelf-support strip. The L-shaped forward portion 40 includes an intermediate portion 42 which extends generally perpendicularly from the rearward portion 39 across the front of one of the ribs 32 of the cabinet wall, and an end portion 43 which extends forwardly from the intermediate portion generally parallel with the rearward portion 39. The end portion 43 is laterally offset from the rearward portion 39 by the intermediate portion 42 a distance approximately equal to the thickness of the rib 32, and a projection or tongue 44 is punched out of the end portion 43 and bent rearwardly into the groove 31. The tongue 44 extends rearwardly generally parallel with the rearward portion 39, and the distance between the tongue 44 and rearward portion e 39 is approximately equal to the thickness of the rib 32. The

length of the tongue 44 in the vertical direction is approximately half of the total vertical dimension of the hinge, and the tongue provides a substantial gripping surface against the rib 32.

The hinge leaf 35 is attached to the side edge 45 of the door 26 in the conventional manner. The leaf 35 is provided with three countersunk holes for flat or oval head screws 46 which secure the leaf to the door. If desired, the rearward portion 39 of the leaf 36 may be provided with a countersunk opening or slot 47 aligned with the attaching tabs 41 to receive a screw 48 to hold the hinge even more securely against the cabinet wall. The screw 48 may be threaded either into one of the perforations 34 or into a screw hole 49 provided in the shelf-support strip between a pair of adjacent perforations.

As can be seen best in FIG. 9, the attaching tabs 41 extend generally transversely from the rearward portion 39 and are generally arcuately shaped to curve away from each other. Each of the arcuate tabs provides a valley or groove 41a adjacent the rearward portion 39 and curve toward each other at 4112. The distance between the grooves 41a of the upper and lower attaching tabs is greater than the distance between the curved portions 41b and corresponds to the minimum distance between five of the perforations 34 and the shelf-support strip. When the attaching tabs 41 are inserted into the perforations, the rounded portions 41b of the somewhat resilient attaching tabs first flex or spread apart to allow the attaching tabs to enter the perforations and then return to their original positions to hold the hinge securely against the cabinet wall. It has been found that making the hinge of cold rolled steel of approximately 0.072 inch thickness provides the desired flexibility and resilience. The outer ends of the attaching tabs 41 are seen to curve away from each other as at 410 to facilitate the spreading of the tabs as they are inserted into the perforatrons.

Referring to FIGS. 46, the end portion 40 of the hinge leaf 36 is slightly longer in the horizontal direction than the hinge leaf 35 and the barrel 37 of the hinge is positioned outwardly from the intermediate portion 42 a sufficient distance to permit the door 26 to be swung inwardly into perpendicular relationship with the cabinet wall -22. As illustrated, the door 26 may freely rotate 180 from the closed position illustrated in FIG. 4 to the fully opened position illustrated in FIG. 6. Further, a gain or recess need not be cut into the door to receive the hinge leaf 35.

FIG. 7 illustrates the use of the hinges with a center post 22' of a cabinet. The center post 22' is similar to the cabinet wall 22 but supports shelves 23 and 23 extending from both sides of the center wall. The shelf 23 is supported by shelf-support strip 24, and the shelf 23' is supported by the shelf-support strip 24'. A hinge 27' is attached to the left side of the center wall 24' in a manner similar to the hinge 27, but the hinge 27' is attached in an inverted position with respect to the hinge 27. The end portion 40 of the hinge leaf 36 positions the barrel 37 outwardly a sufficient distance to permit the door 26 to swing a full 180 to overlie the door 26 attached to the hinge 27'.

When it is desired to remove the hinges, a screwdriver or the like may be slipped between the rearward portion 39 and the shelf-support strip, and the attaching tabs 41 may be pried from the perforations. The hinges may be removed quickly and easily, and once removed, no unsightly holes or defects appear in the cabinet. Similarly, the hinges may be easily attached merely by inserting the tongue 44 into the groove 31 and pushing the attaching tabs 41 into the perforations in the shelf-support strip. The rib 32 of the wall is gripped between the tongue 44 and the rearward portion 39 of the hinge, and the tabs 41 hold the intermediate portion 42 squarely against the front of the rib, thereby securing the hinge against movement in any direction. The tabs 41 lie along a line parallel with the barrel 37 and the length of the intermediate portion 42, and the barrel is held in a vertical position.

Referring to FIGS. l214, a modified hinge 127 similarly includes hinge leaves 135 and 136 rotatably joined at the barrel 137. The hinge leaf 135 is attached to the door 126 by screws 146 as described hereinbefore with respect to the hinge 27. The hinge 127 includes a rearward portion 139, an intermediate portion 142, and an end portion 143, but rather than a single projection which is received by the groove 131 in the cabinet wall 122, the leaf 136 includes a pair of projections 144. Further, the projections 144 are punched and bent out from the intermediate portion 142 rather than the end portion 143.

Attaching tabs 141 extend from the top and bottom of the rearward end of the portion 139, and the attaching tabs 141 have the same shape as the tabs 41 previously discussed. However, the distance between the tabs 141 is equal to the minimum distance between four perforations 134 of the shelfsupport strip 124 rather than five perforations. A pair of screw holes 147 are provided in the rearward portion 139 aligned with the attaching tabs 141, and two round head screws 148 may be inserted through the holes into perforations 134.

Another modification of the hinge is illustrated in FIGS. l17. The hinge 227 is designed for use with shelf-support strips 224 which are not recessed into the cabinet wall 222. The advantage of this modification is that the hinge can be used to attach a door to a cabinet which did not previously have shelf-support strips. The hinge 227 is similar to the hinge 127, but the rearward portion 239 includes a laterally offset end portion 2390 which extends parallel to the major portion of the rearward portion 239 and is offset therefrom by shoulder 239k which extends laterally outwardly from the wall. The depth of the shoulder 23% is approximately the same as the horizontal dimension of the channel-shaped shelfsupport strip 224, and the attaching tabs 241 which extend from the offset portion 239a hold the rearward portion 239 securely against the cabinet wall 222. The screws 248 may be used to provide a more secure attachment. The leaf 235 is similarly attached to the door 226 by screws 246.

If desired, the rear edge of the rearward portion of the cabinet hinge can be provided with an emboss or a bulge which extends away from the shelf-support strip to permit a screwdriver or other prying tool to be more readily inserted between the shelf-sup ort strip and the cabinet hinge. Further, if a pair of hinges are 0 beused on opposite sides of a cabinet wall, as, for example, in FIG. 7, we have found it desirable to use only a single screw hole in the rearward portion of the hinge. For example, with the hinge illustrated in FIG. 12, only the upper or the lower hole 147 need be used, and, since the brackets on opposite sides of the cabinet wall illustrated in FIG. 7 are upside down with respect to each other, there is no chance that the single screw inserted into each hinge will interfere with the screw for the other hinge.

While in the foregoing specification, detailed descriptions of specific embodiments were set forth for the purpose of illustration, it is to be understood that many of the details hereingiven may be varied considerably by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of our invention.

We claim:

1. In combination with a cabinet wall having its front side provided with a vertically extending slot and a cabinet door, a hinge for attaching the door to the cabinet wall comprising rotatably joined first and second hinge leaves, a first leaf having a substantially planar portion secured to the door, the second leaf having a forward portion and a rearward portion, the rearward portion being substantially planar and lying against a side of the cabinet wall, the forward portion of said second leaf including an intermediate portion extending generally perpendicularly from the rearward portion and lying against said front side, said intermediate portion having a projection extending rearwardly therefrom and spaced from said rearward portion and being received by said vertical slot, and means for attaching said rearward portion to said cabinet wall, said cabinet sidewall having its inner side provided with a support strip having spaced perforations and said rearward leaf portion being provided with attaching tabs for engagement with said perforations.

2. The structure of claim 1 in which said tabs curve toward each other and are flexed for insertion into said perforations.

3. The structure of claim 1 in which at least two spaced projections extend rearwardly from said intermediate portion into engagement with said slot.

4. The structure of claim 1 in which said slot forms on either side spaced apart ribs and one of said ribs is gripped between said rearwardly extending projection and said rearward leaf portion.

5. In combination with a cabinet door and a cabinet wall having a front side provided with a vertically extending slot.

and an inner side provided with a vertically extending shelf support strip having spaced perforations, a hinge comprising rotatably joined first and second leaves, the first leaf having a substantially planar portion attached to said door, the second leaf having a forward portion and a rearward portion, the rearward portion being substantially planar and lying against the side of the cabinet wall, the forward portion of said sec (1 leaf including an intermediate portion extending gener perpendicularly from the rearward portion and lying a the front side of the cabinet wall, a pair of attaching tabs'extending from said rearward portion and received by perforations of the shelf-support strip, and a projection extending rearwardly from the intermediate portion and spaced from the rearward portion, said projection being received in said vertical slot in the front side of the cabinet wall.

6. The structure of claim 5 in which said attaching tabs are generally arcuately shaped and curved toward each other and then away from each other as they proceed outwardly from said rearward position.

"H050 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3, 591,247 Dated July 6, 1971 Inventor(s) Hammond A. Berry and Michael J. Duly It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 1, line 36, change "180" to Signed and sealed this 2nd day of November 1971.

(SEAL) Attest:

.FIETCHER JR. ROBERT GOTTSCHALK fi ig i g Officer Acting Commissioner of Patents 

1. In combination with a cabinet wall having its front side provided with a vertically extending slot and a cabinet door, a hinge for attaching the door to the cabinet wall comprising rotatably joined first and second hinge leaves, a first leaf having a substantially planar portion secured to the door, the second leaf having a forward portion and a rearward portion, the rearward portion being substantially planar and lying against a side of the cabinet wall, the forward portion of said second leaf including an intermediate portion extending generally perpendicularly from the rearward portion and lying against said front side, said intermediate portion having a projection extending rearwardly therefrom and spaced from said rearward portion and being received by said vertical slot, and means for attaching said rearward portion to said cabinet wall, said cabinet sidewall having its inner side provided with a support strip having spaced perforations and said rearward leaf portion being provided with attaching tabs for engagement with said perforations.
 2. The structure of claim 1 in which said tabs curve toward each other and are flexed for insertion into said perforations.
 3. The structure of claim 1 in which at least two spaced projections extend rearwardly from said intermediate portion into engagement with said slot.
 4. The structure of claim 1 in which said slot forms on either side spaced apart ribs and one of said ribs is gripped between said rearwardly extending projection and said rearward leaf portion.
 5. In combination with a cabinet door and a cabinet wall having a front side provided with a vertically extending slot and an inner side provided with a vertically extending shelf support strip having spaced perforations, a hinge comprising rotatably joined first and second leaves, the first leaf having a substantially planar portion attached to said door, the second leaf having a forward portion and a rearward portion, the rearward portion being substantially planar and lying against the side of the cabinet wall, the forward portion of said second leaf including an intermediate portion extending generally perpendicularly from the rearward portion and lying against the front side of the cabinet wall, a pair of attaching tabs extending from said rearward portion and received by perforations of the shelf-support strip, and a projection extending rearwardly from the intermediate portion and spaced from the rearward portion, said projection being received in said vertical slot in the front side of the cabinet wall.
 6. The structure of claim 5 in which said attaching tabs are generally arcuately shaped and curved toward each other and then away from each other as they proceed outwardly from said rearward position. 